


Murky Waters

by mywordsflyup



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Awkward Sexual Tension, F/M, Fluff, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-18
Updated: 2015-04-18
Packaged: 2018-03-24 15:19:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3773542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mywordsflyup/pseuds/mywordsflyup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"What do you mean, you can't swim?" </p>
<p>Lia Amell has lived most of her life in the middle of a lake. That doesn't mean she has ever actually swum in it. Alistair offers to teach her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Murky Waters

“What do you mean, you can't swim?”

Alistiar's voice was loud enough that probably even Morrigan, who had pitched her tent as far away from them as possible, had heard him. Lia could feel blood rising in her cheeks as all eyes turned to her.

“Could you please lower your voice?” she hissed at Alistair and started rummaging through her pack just because it gave her an excuse to not look at anybody. Alistair came closer, his voice just slightly lower now.

“How can you not know how to swim?” he asked. She knew he would not let this go. She looked to Leliana for help who sat in front of her tent with her lute in her lap.

“Leave her alone, Alistair” she said and idly picked at the strings. “Stop teasing her.”

Alistair huffed. “I'm not trying to tease her. I'm just confused!” He turned back to Lia. “You lived in the middle of a lake!”

She looked up. “Well, it's not like I had a lot of opportunity to go outside, now did I?” she said sharply. The look on Alistair's face made her regret the words immediately.

“Right, sorry,” he said, pulling back slightly. “There I go again. Foot in my mouth.” He rubbed the back of his neck, obviously embarrassed.

She sighed. “I'm sorry for snapping at you,” she said, quieter now. “It's just...” She bit her lip and kept her eyes on the ground. “Sometimes I get embarrassed by how much I just don't know how to do.” She didn't dare to look at him directly, but from the corner of her eye she could see him scooting closer.

“You could still learn,” he said, his voice almost a conspiratorial whisper. “I could teach you.”

Her head snapped up. She looked at him, searching his face for any indication that he might be messing with her. “Are you serious?” she asked, still uncertain.

He nodded, his eyes wide. “Sure! I've never taught anyone how to swim, but really, how hard can it be? And we are camped next to a lake, so why not?”

She thought about it for a minute, nervously chewing on her lower lip. She looked out over the lake, a black hole of nothingness in the darkness. It did not look particularly inviting.

“Alright,” she said with a sigh. “We can try.”

“Excellent. And I'm sure if we think about it long enough, we will find a reason why knowing how to swim totally helps you fight Darkspawn.”

 

* * *

 

The next morning, as she crawled out of her tent for their first lesson, she already regretted having agreed to this. In just the soft linen trousers she usually wore to bed and the cropped tight shirt she just wore as extra padding underneath her armor, she felt strangely exposed. She crossed her arms and trained her eyes on some leaves on the ground to avoid looking at Alistair. He had seen her wearing less before when they had been forced to patch up each other's wounds. But somehow it was different when nobody was bleeding profusely all over the place. Surely he was looking at her. She could almost feel his eyes on her wide hips. Her thick thighs. The slope of her soft belly. She had never felt insecure about any part of her body but the thought of him looking at her made her skin tingle somehow. When she finally dared to look up she found that he was also stubbornly staring at the ground. But the faint pink flush on his cheeks betrayed him. He had looked! A teasing comment caught in her throat as her own gaze trailed down to his bare chest. He had taken off his shirt and she could see it all. His wide shoulders. The muscles on his arms. She could feel her face getting hot. Maker, why had she agreed to this?

“So are you going to do this now?” Zevran called from his place by the fire, a mischievous grin on his face. “Or are you just going to stand there and blush all day?”

Alistair whirled around. “I'm not blushing!” he said, blushing even more. “I was just... contemplating.”

“Ah, yes. Contemplating. I think we all know exactly what you were _contemplating_.” Zevran pronounced the last word with such care, uneasy innuendo left hanging in the air. Alistair's face had reached a beet red color by now and Lia could feel her own cheeks burning.

Before anyone could say any more embarrassing things, Lia sprinted into the lake. It hit her ice-cold. The splashing and spraying she caused by running made the water hit her face and arms before she had even made it more than a few yards in. But she would not degrade herself further by squealing, so she bit her tongue. When she felt she had run far enough to avoid Zevran's comments, she turned around to face the shore and squatted down far enough until the water reached her chin, completely covering her scantily clad body.

“What in Andraste's name are you doing?” Alistair called from the edge of the water.

“I'm in the lake!” she yelled back.

“I can see that!” He began wading towards her, much more slowly and carefully. “But isn't it freezing?”

She shook her head as she hugged her own body against the cold underwater. Getting up now would look even more ridiculous so she stayed put, watching him making his way towards her. Behind him she could see Zevran and Leliana who had relocated to a spot from where they could watch them. Bastards.

Alistair took his sweet time and had no problem with letting everyone know just how cold the water really was. He scrunched up his face as the water reached his thighs and Lia laughed, having gotten used to the temperature by then. She gently swayed back and forth on the balls of her feet as she waited for him.

“Do you think there's fish in here?” she asked, letting her gaze wander over the surface.

Alistair stopped dead in his tracks, just a few feet away from her now, and gave her a quizzical look. “Eh, yes?”

She froze. “Are you joking?” For some reason she was suddenly very aware of the fact that her feet were almost completely covered in slick mud and that the water was too murky to see anything through it.

“Are _you_? We ate a fish out of this very lake last night!”

This time she did not suppress her scream. With a yelp she jumped to her feet, splashing around wildly as she lost her balance on the uneven, soft ground. She could feel herself slipping, falling. And then suddenly, Alistair was by her side, pulling her up. One hand on her waist, the other on her arm. It was an awkward position, with her pressed against him, torso twisted, one arm still flailing.

“Woah there,” he said, tightening his grip. “They don't bite, you know.”

“I'm not so sure about that,” she snapped, suddenly fighting the urge to scale his long body like a tree. Everything to get away from the water. “Maker, I think I felt something touch my leg.”

He chuckled and gently tried to pull away from her. “Oh yes, the predatory trout. Everyone knows it prefers its helpless victims screaming and thrashing about.”

She swatted at him, almost losing her balance again. He put a hand behind her back to steady her and she grabbed his forearm for support. While for him the water only came up to the middle of his thighs, she was submerged to the navel in murky lake water and her stand wasn't nearly as steady as his – especially because she was trying very hard not to touch the ground for too long.

“Do you want to stop?” he asked, more serious now. She looked up at him. The sun's reflection on the water's surface painted flowing patterns on his face and chest. She watched them flicker over his skin, merging with the mess of freckles and tiny scars they found there. For a brief moment she wondered if he found the same on her. If he looked so closely at her at all...

Then she cleared her throat, feeling the warmth in cheeks. “No. I want to learn,” she said, pointedly keeping her eyes away from his bare skin.

“Are you just going to stand there? We came to watch you swim!” Zevran's voice carried over the water. Alistair flinched, causing Lia to grab on even tighter to his arm.

“We were about to!” Alistair yelled back. “Don't you have anything better to do, you... weird... watchers?”

Lia grinned. “Smooth.”

He turned his head to look at her again. The slight pink on his cheeks was back.

“Alright,” he said. “Eh, where to start?” He pursed his lips in concentration. “I think it's safe to say you are lacking a certain amount of trust in this water.”

“You mean the murky water filled with slimy fish and Maker knows what else?”

“My point exactly.” He grinned. “I think we should start with you just lying back. The water will carry you.”

She looked at him skeptically. “Just lie back? Flat, like a piece of wood?”

He nodded. “Yes, I will hold you of course, so don't worry. But I promise you are not going to sink.”

Lia bit her lower lip, thinking about what he proposed. The thought of lying on her back with all that water underneath her made her nervous. She knew she would float. Perhaps a bit like taking a bath. And if Alistair really stayed with her, it might not be so bad.

“I think I can do that. But I swear to the Maker, Alistair. If you drop my or pull me under...” She glared at him – fully aware that being half-naked and shivering in the middle of a lake was probably not giving her the most threatening appearance. He looked at her, genuinely taken aback.

“I would never do that!” She studied his face. After a second or two she relaxed a bit. Of course he wouldn't. He joked around a lot but she knew he would never be cruel like that.

“Well... Alright then,” she muttered, unsure how to proceed. She fidgeted a bit until Alistair ran up his hand from her back to her shoulder blades.

“Just let go. I've got you,” he said, his voice low and calm. She looked up at his face, her body suddenly warm despite the cold water. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and let herself fall back, slowly but surely guided by his hand.

 

 


End file.
